For an adequate explanation of the astonishing power which our Saviour exercised over his auditors, and, in- deed, exerted over all who came within his circle of in- fluence, we are doubtless to look to two or three facts which have never yet been exhibited, at least in con- nection, with such graphic portraiture as to make his life stand out to the modern reader in its true moral grandeur, force, and vividness. These elements are part- ly suggested in the evangelist's statement that those who first hung upon the lledeemer's lips found in his discourses a new and divine assurance : " He taught them as one haviwj authority, and not as the scribes" (Matt, vii, 29).
(1.) His doctrines were novel to his hearers. It was not so much because he announced to them the usher- ing in of a new dispensation, for upon this he merely touched in his introductory addresses and by way of ar- resting their attention ; all details respecting that fresh iera which could gratify curiosity, or even awaken it, he sedulously avoided, and he seemed anxious to divert the popidar expectation from himself as the central figure in the coming scenes. It was the spiritual truths he communicated that burned upon the hearts of the list- ening populace with a strange intensity. True, the es- sential features of a religious life had been illustrated in their sacred books for centuries by holy men of old, and the most vital doctrines of the Gospel may be said to have been anticipated in the Mosaic code and the pro- phetical comments; nay, living examples were not want- ing to confirm the substantial identity of religious ex- perience under whatever outward economy. Yet, at the time of our Lord's advent, the fundamental principles of sound ])iety seem to have been forgotten or overlook- ed, especially by the Pharisees, whose views and prac- tices were regarded as the models by the nation at large. When, therefore, our Lord brought back the popular at- tention to the simple doctrines of love to God and man, not only as lying at the foundation of the O.-T. ethics, but as comprising the whole duty of man, the simplici- ty, pertinence, and truthfulness of the sentiment came with an irresistible freshness of conviction to the minds of the humblest hearers. For this, too, they had al- ready been prepared by the sad contrast between the precepts and the conduct of the highest sectaries of the day, by the tedious burden of the Mosaic ritual, and, above all, by the bitter yearnings after religious liberty in their own souls, which the current system of belief failed to supply. Sin yet lay as a load of anguish upon their hearts, and they eagerly embraced the gentle in- vitations of the Kedeemer to the bosom of their offend- ed heavenly Father. It was precisely the resurrection of these again obscured teachings that gave such power to the preaeliing of Luther, Whitefield, Wesley, Edwards, and others in subsequent times, and which converted
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the moral desert of their day into a spiritual Eden. But tl'.cre was this to enhance the effect in the Saviour's imimulgations, that they awakened the expectation of a millennial reign ; an idea misconstrued, indeed, by many of the Jews into that of a temporal dominion, but on that very accoinit productive of a more boundless and extravagant enthusiasm. The national spirit was roused, and Jesus even found it necessarj' to repress and avoid the fanatical and disloyal manifestations to which it was instantly prone. Yet in those hearts which bet- ter understood " the kingdom of heaven," there arose the dawn of that Sabbatic day of which the Pentecostal eftusion brought the meridian glory. (For the best elu- cidation of this difference between Christ's and his jjre- decessors', as well as rivals' teaching, see Stier's Woi-ds of Jesus, passim.)
(2.) He spoke as God. Later preachers and reform- ers have felt a heroic boldness, and have realized a mar- velous effect in their utterances, when fully impressed with the conviction of the divinity of their mission and Ihe sacred character of their commiuiications ; but Jesus r.-as no mere ambassador from the court of heaven ; he was the A^'ord of the Lord himself. Ancient propliets had made their effata by an inspired impulse, and cor- roborated them by outward miracles that enforced re- spect, if they did not command obedience ; but Jesus possessed no restricted measure of the Spirit, and wrought wonders in no other's name ; in him d^velt all the ful- ness of the Godhead bodily, and the Sliekinah stood re- vealed in his every act, look, and breath. '-Never man spake like this," was the significant confession extorted from his very foes. He who came from the bosom of the Father told but the things he had seen and known when he unveiled eternal verities to men. His daily demeanor, too, under whatever exigency, or temptation, or provocation, was a most pungent and irrefragable comment on all he said — a faultless example reflecting a perfect doctrine. Unprecedented as were his mira- cles, his life itself was the greatest wonder of all. The manner, it is often truly observed, is quite as important in the jiublic speaker as the matter; and, we may add, his jicrsonal associations with his hearers are often more inttiicntial with them than either. In all these partic- idars Christ has no parallel — he had no defect. (See this argument admirably treated in Bushnell's KatU7-e and the Siipeiiiafurnl, chap, x.)